by Lynsay Sands
"What?" she repeated, outraged.
Matias nodded. "Si, he was thinking of that last night. It was someone named Magnus, and he recalled him back to England when he decided to fly out here to Canada, but he was thinking he should put him back on you after last night's attack."
"Son of a--I can't believe he had someone watching me all this time," Beth said grimly. "How did I not notice?"
"You are missing the point, chica," Matias said with exasperation. "Why would he do that? Why did he have someone watching you even way back then?" he asked, and then answered, "He must have known all along that you were his life mate."
Beth stared at her cousin blankly as everything he'd said circled slowly inside her head. Scotty had set a bodyguard on her. He'd been looking out for her. He was eating and easily read because he'd found his life mate. And the dreams . . . Beth frowned. Were they shared dreams? Life mates were said to have them when in the vicinity of each other . . . but Scotty had played in most of her wet dreams since she'd met him. Even the ones she had when they were on different continents.
Although, she thought suddenly, they had always been more powerful when he'd popped up in Spain, and now here. Beth had just assumed it was because he was on the scene and big as life. Now she realized he'd often stayed in either a house or hotel near wherever she lived. Then the dreams had been much more powerful, more real. She'd been able to smell him, and touching him in her dreams had felt like she was touching him in real life . . . like the dream tonight, she thought with a frown.
"Frankly, I am surprised that you did not realize it yourself," Matias added.
Beth scowled at him. "How was I supposed to know? I was a new turn when I met him. It had only been two weeks since I was turned. I couldn't read anyone, so not being able to read him meant nothing to me. And I was still eating back then. And . . . well, he's a good-looking man. I just assumed I was dreaming about him because he was a hottie."
"All true," Matias decided after a moment's consideration. "So I will accept that you did not know, but he definitely must have known."
Beth bit her lip, unwilling to believe that Scotty had known all this time and not claimed her. How much did you have to hate someone that you would bypass claiming them as a possible life mate? The one thing all immortals yearned for and were seeking? And why would they even be life mates when he hated her?
"Maybe he wasn't sure," she suggested hopefully.
"Beth," Matias said heavily. "Scotty is not an idiot. He knows the signs of meeting a life mate. His not being able to read you by itself would have told him that is what you are."
"He can't read me?" she asked curiously. "How do you know that?"
"Because he didn't know that you knew about his interfering in your becoming a hunter and some of the jobs you've been on," Matias explained. "If he could read you, he'd know that. But he didn't and was surprised and even dismayed when I told him that you do know."
Beth merely grunted at that. It still annoyed her to think of the way he'd interfered in her being an Enforcer over the years.
"So, he must know," Matias decided, and then frowned and said, "But if so, why has he not yet claimed you? Most immortals would have claimed you right away, yet he has not."
When he peered toward her in question, Beth lowered her head and concentrated on petting Chico as she finally gave in to the truth. Scotty had known they were life mates for over a century and done nothing about it. There was only one reason she could think of for that, and it was both simple and obvious.
"If I had to guess, I would say because he doesn't like me," she said softly.
"What?" Matias shook his head and blew a raspberry. "Impossible! You are beautiful, and charming and strong and smart! You are a goddess among women!"
"And yet he doesn't want me," Beth said wearily. "He hasn't claimed me and usually, at least until this visit, he's been cold as a witch's tit to me."
"I have not seen this cold tit," Matias assured her solemnly. "In fact, I would say from the looks I have seen him give you that the witch's tit is on fire."
"Yes, well, that's only this time," she assured him. "In the past he treated me like I had the plague. He even wanted to have my mind wiped in a three-on-one."
"What?" Matias's eyes widened incredulously and she couldn't blame him. A three-on-one was when three immortals worked together to invade and eradicate another immortal's memories. They erased each memory over and over again to prevent the nanos repairing them, until the individual was as blank as a clean chalkboard. It was a drastic measure, used as a last resort.
"Yes," Beth assured him firmly. "When he and his men saved us from Jamieson, he pulled Dree aside and said the Council would want me put down, but he thought I should be given the three-on-one and have my mind wiped," she told him. "In fact, if not for Dree, I'm sure he would have done it. But she refused to allow it and got us on a boat headed for Spain that very night."
"Thank God for Drina," Matias said with a shake of the head. "I cannot imagine life without you in it as . . . well, as you."
"Apparently, that's what Scotty would have preferred, though," Beth whispered miserably.
Matias's mouth tightened. "Well, screw him and the cow he rode in on. He is out of luck. We will find you another life mate, and Scotty can go wipe someone else's mind to have a pickle for a mate."
Beth's lips twitched at the words. "A pickle?"
"Well, what do you think is the result of a three-on-one?" he asked grimly.
She shook her head. "Marguerite Argeneau's husband did a three-on-one on her, and I'm quite sure he didn't wipe all her memories, leaving her a pickle."
"Then she is lucky. From what I understand, that is very hard to do. It is easier to just wipe the memory completely, and when that happens, the person is no longer themselves. They are a tabula rasa. A blank slate. Their personality gone." Matias snorted and added, "That is probably what he wanted, a blank slate to turn into whatever he wishes."
"Or just a woman who wasn't a prostitute as a mortal," Beth said quietly.
Matias turned on her sharply. "That was not your choice. He cannot blame you for that," he said with outrage. "Your father sold you to those disgusting purveyors of flesh! And they in turn sold you to Danny after your chastity was stolen."
"But I stayed in the business after Dree killed Danny and I was free," she pointed out solemnly. Matias had known her life history for years. He'd asked her and she'd told him. Beth didn't hide it. Secrets were never a good thing. They tended to give others power over you if they learned of them. Besides, she wasn't ashamed of her history. At least, she hadn't thought she was. But now she wondered if she shouldn't be.
Sighing, Beth leaned back against the headboard and closed her eyes. It was far too early in the day to have to deal with this. Or was it? Opening her eyes, she turned to her cousin and asked, "What time is it?"
"Nearly two o'clock," Matias answered, and then raised his eyebrows. "Since you are awake, can I take you to breakfast?"
"Breakfast?" she asked with interest.
"It will get you away from the house and . . . him," he said apologetically. "And it will give you a chance to clear your head."
Beth smiled crookedly and shrugged. "That's not necessary, Matias. I'll be fine. I mean, I'm not the one who's been running around aware that we're life mates all this time. I thought I just had the lusties for him, so didn't become emotionally involved. I'll just continue to think of him that way."
"Lusties?" Matias asked with amusement.
"That's what Mary and I used to call it when we were attracted to a man," she said with a small smile that faded as she recalled her friend Mary's fate. These last ten years since the arrival of Ruff in her life, Beth had made a practice of finding the bright side of every event. For Mary, she'd told herself that at least her friend enjoyed a couple of years of her retirement before Jamieson had killed her, that at least her death had been quick. It might not seem like much, but Beth knew it was. She'd seen many morta
ls die slowly over the last century, fading away, suffering terribly over a long period of time as they struggled to live a life that no longer offered them anything but the pain of cancer or some other ailment. She was glad Mary hadn't had to go through that.
"I will take the dogs and go so that you can dress," Matias said and started to get off the bed, only to pause and turn to hug her tightly. "You are a good woman, Beth. If he cannot see that and accept you the way you are, it is his loss."
"Thank you," she murmured, hugging him back. "And you're the best cousin a girl could ask for, Matias. The day Dree and her brother welcomed me into your family was the luckiest of my life."
Matias squeezed her a little tighter, and then released her and got up.
"Chico, Piper, come," he ordered, patting his hip as he headed for the door. The dogs immediately leapt off the bed and followed him out into the hall.
Nine
The moment the door closed behind Matias and the dogs, Beth threw her covers aside and got up as well. But then she just stood there, momentarily overwhelmed by all she'd learned. She was a possible life mate for Scotty, but he didn't want her. How deep must his loathing be that he would pass up the chance of a life mate just because she was that life mate?
Wow. She had lived fifty years as a mortal, and only one hundred and twenty-five more as an immortal. That wasn't even a quarter of his life, but Beth would have jumped at the chance of a life mate. Yet he didn't want her.
For a moment anger and pain tried to drag at her, but she pushed it away and took a deep breath. As Matias had said, it was Scotty's loss. She was a good woman, and she would make a good life mate . . . to someone else.
"They should have dating sites for immortals," she muttered under her breath as she dragged a fresh pair of jeans out of her bag and began to pull them on. Maybe she'd start one. She could hire Marguerite, or someone like her, to interview all the immortals who joined and match them up.
Or maybe young Stephanie, Beth thought as she tugged off her overlarge T-shirt and then grabbed a bra from the bag and donned it. Drina said the kid had some skills in that area. Hell, she could hire both of them and halve the work for each. And she could call it iHarmony for Immortal Harmony.
The thought made her grin as she pulled on a clean T-shirt, but Beth shook her head. That sounded too much like an Apple product.
Immortally Yours, maybe? That one wasn't bad. She'd have to think about it. Actually, she didn't know why someone else hadn't thought of it already. There were so many lonely immortals out there, waiting for a life mate.
Shaking her head, Beth rooted through the bag she'd collected from the bathroom on her way to her room last night and gathered her weapons belt and the small arsenal of weapons she'd brought with her. She made short work of fastening the belt around her waist and quickly filling all the custom holders. Her sword, knives, and a dart gun were quickly tucked away, and then she headed for the door, mentally preparing herself to face Scotty now that she knew the man was aware of the dreams she had about him.
The thought made her grimace. It was one thing to have sexual fantasies and dreams about a man when he didn't know, and quite another for him to know exactly what you wanted to do to him behind closed doors . . . and what a screamer you were.
"You can do this," Beth muttered under her breath. "You can't waste your time worrying about a man who thinks himself better than everyone else. Just deal with him until tomorrow and then you'll fly home and not have to deal with him anymore."
Shoulders straight, she dragged the door open and marched out of her room.
Much to Beth's relief, there was no one in the hall, and she made it to the bathroom without encountering anyone. She continued the inner lecture as she relieved herself, washed her hands and face, and then brushed her teeth and hair. Once she didn't have anything else to do, she forced herself to continue on to the kitchen.
Beth heard the murmur of male voices before she reached the kitchen door and braced herself for what was to come, but it wasn't as hard as she'd expected it to be. She supposed, in a way, while everything had changed, nothing had changed at all. She'd always been attracted to Scotty, and she'd always known he hated her or at least looked down on her. The only added factor here was that he was aware of the wild sexual fantasies she had about him. Oh well. He appeared to enjoy them too, so he couldn't point fingers, Beth told herself firmly and entered as Donny said, "You're kidding me. You're a lawyer?"
"For fifty years," Matias said with a nod as Beth strode to the coffee machine.
"Why are you in university, then?" Donny asked with confusion.
Matias shrugged. "I got bored and thought I would try something else."
"What are you taking?" Donny asked.
"Right now I am taking general courses so I can see what interests me most."
"Man," Donny muttered. "I thought you were like twenty or something."
"Seventy-five," Matias corrected him.
"Matias, where do you keep your cups?" Beth asked before Donny could speak again. The coffee machine was the good old-fashioned drip kind, where a whole pot was made and not a cup, and the carafe was nearly full. Matias was the only one with coffee, Donny had a glass of water in front of him and there was an empty blood bag in front of Scotty.
"In the cupboard above the coffeepot," Matias said helpfully.
"Thanks." She opened the cupboard door, picked one of the dozen or so cups and poured coffee into it with a little sigh.
"Thank God you're up," Donny said into the silence. "We have to go out for breakfast, and then we have to go grocery shopping if we want lunch and supper."
"There's plenty of food here," Beth said lightly as she stirred sugar into her drink. "Make toast, or a sandwich or something."
"I can't. There's no bread," Donny said, scowling at Matias. "All that meat and cheese and not a lick of bread in this place."
"Tina forgot to get it when she picked up the groceries for me," her cousin said with a shrug, and then pursed his lips and added thoughtfully, "Although she may not have forgotten. She is on that no-carb diet. Avoiding the bread might have been deliberate."
"Tina?" Beth asked with a smile. "I thought you were mad about Justine."
"Si, but Justine does not like to shop, and Tina does. She is very sweet."
"Uh-huh," Beth said and then asked idly, "Who does your laundry?"
"Nicole. She is very handy with the iron."
"Housecleaning?"
"Michele." He grinned widely. "She wears a French maid outfit when she does it. Afterward, I reward her well."
"I'll bet," Beth said dryly and shook her head. "Good to know you haven't changed and still keep a harem of willing women around."
"I must. I am God's gift to women," Matias reminded her, even managing to keep a straight face as he did.
Chuckling, Beth scooped up her cup and took a sip before asking, "Does Mortimer know you have mortal women running around the Enforcer house and doing your chores for you?"
"No. He has never asked so I have never told," he said with a shrug and then eyed her warily. "You think he would not like it?"
"I think he would definitely not like it," she assured him. "There's too much risk one of them could see or hear something they shouldn't."
"I never let the girls come when there are Enforcers here," Matias assured her. "They just help me take care of things when I am the only one present."
"Hmm," Beth said dubiously.
Matias eyed her with dissatisfaction and then asked, "Are you going to tell him?"
Beth considered the matter briefly and then shrugged. "If he doesn't ask, I won't tell." Matias was just relaxing when she added, "But if he does ask, I will."
Matias grimaced, but before he could protest or respond, Donny complained, "Beth, I'm starved."
Turning her attention to the younger immortal, she raised her eyebrows. "Well, you didn't have to wait for me. Why didn't you go grab yourself some breakfast while I was sleeping?"
"Oh yeah," Beth muttered into her cup. She supposed she should have expected that Scotty would insist all three men stay to guard her, but she'd been so distracted by everything else, she'd kind of forgotten about that incident in the alley. Besides, she didn't know why the man would bother. He didn't want her, so why worry about her well-being?
Not wanting to get caught up in that painful inner conversation again, Beth sighed and pushed the question away. Lifting her head, she raised an eyebrow in Matias's direction. "You don't happen to have travel mugs?"
"Si." Grinning, he stood and moved to a cupboard at the opposite end of the room. There were half a dozen or so cups in the cupboard. He picked a red one that reminded her of her poor destroyed shoes and carried it to her, murmuring, "It seems we will have company for that breakfast I offered to take you out for."
Beth shrugged as she turned to pour her coffee into the travel mug. "Such is life, cousin."
"Si," he murmured.
Beth quickly rinsed the cup she'd used, snapped the lid on the travel mug and turned back to start across the kitchen. "Come on, boys. It seems breakfast and shopping are on the agenda before anything else today."
"Mortimer called while you were getting ready," Scotty announced, and Beth froze and closed her eyes on a curse.
"I forgot to call him and report on what happened with Kira before we went out last night," she realized out loud.
"Aye," Scotty agreed. "But I would no' feel bad. I forgot about it too. I fear Donny's reaction to caffeine made us all forget. I explained as much to Mortimer and filled him in."
Sighing, Beth forced herself to turn and nod at him. "Thank you."
"Me pleasure," he said, offering her a smile.
Beth bit her lip, and then asked, "How did he take the news that Kira was returning to Toronto with us?"
"He was no' pleased at first, but in the end said it was better than her committing suicide by Council order and starting an international immortal war," Scotty said dryly and then added, "O' course, once I mentioned that she was trained in weapons and martial arts, he warmed to the idea. He's hoping she will no' need much training at all ere he puts her in the field."